Man sued after pirate radio broadcast interferes with airport tower

A West Palm Beach man whose home-based pirate radio station interfered with air traffic control tower transmissions at Palm Beach International Airport is being sued by the federal government.

Federal prosecutors filed a summons against Robens Cheriza in federal court Tuesday, instructing him to respond within 21 days to a lawsuit demanding that he pay the $20,000 fine issued against him by federal broadcast regulators last year.

According to the lawsuit, filed Jan. 9, Cheriza has ignored the Federal Communications Commission's order to pay the fine — called a forfeiture order in FCC documents — since last April.

Cheriza violated federal broadcasting laws by "willfully and repeatedly" transmitting a radio signal without a license in the spring of 2011, according to the lawsuit. The summons was filed Tuesday.

According to FCC records, the sounds of a party being broadcast from Cheriza's home interrupted the control tower frequency at Palm Beach International Airport on April 1, 2011.

The airport incident prompted the Federal Aviation Administration to file a complaint with the FCC the next day.

"Safety of the traveling public is the FAA's top priority," said Kathleen Bergen, an FAA spokesperson, in a statement. "We work closely with the FCC to identify and eliminate interference with air traffic control communications."

Agents with the FCC's Enforcement Bureau in Miami went to work after receiving the complaint, deploying "direction-finding techniques" to zero in on an antenna mounted to a West Palm Beach home.

Agents went to the house and the station "all of a sudden went off the air," just moments before they went inside, FCC records state.

Once inside the home, Cheriza brought agents to an enclosed patio, where they noted an FM broadcast transmitter connected to an antenna. The transmitter was hooked up by audio cables to an "operational broadcast studio" comprised of a PC, laptop, microphone and audio mixer.

Cheriza told agents he owned the studio and its equipment. He said he had been operating the station on 107.3 MHz for about a month, the FCC said. Cheriza also said he knew that operating an unlicensed FM station was illegal.

"In addition, Mr. Cheriza confirmed that he broadcast a party live from his residence on the evening of April 1, 2011," and that the audio transmission interfered with the control tower frequency, according to an FCC notice issued against Cheriza on Feb. 1, 2012.

Interference from pirate radio also became an issue in Hollywood in late 2012, when dozens of people reported not being able to use their keyless entry systems while parked at the Hollywood Police station.

In that case, police found that somebody had set up a bootleg station on the roof of a nearby bank building, which jammed the signals of drivers' keyless entry systems. The station, broadcasting on 104.7 FM, played Caribbean music around the clock, police say.

In 2012, a Fort Lauderdale resident was fined $20,000 for running a bootleg radio station. In 2011, a North Lauderdale man was arrested after deputies said he was operating a pirate station that played Haitian music.

The FCC notice to Cheriza warned him that he would be fined $20,000. The notice told Cheriza to respond in writing if he wanted to challenge the fine by having it lowered or canceled.

Cheriza ignored the notice, according to the federal suit. On April 3, 2012, the FCC ordered that he pay the $20,000 fine. He hasn't yet paid, according to the federal lawsuit.

The lawsuit, filed by the U.S. Attorney's Office for the Southern District of Florida, is asking that Cheriza pay the $20,000 fine plus costs and interest.